USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume I > Part 48
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The basin of the Snake and Clearwater rivers around Lewiston, occupying a sheltered position, with altitudes ranging from 700 to 2,000 feet above the sea level, was early marked by fruit growers as a field well adapted for their business and the Mulkey orchard was followed by others. For many years the Lewiston Valley claimed the distinction of having the largest Bing cherry acreage of any district in the Northwest. Apples, pears, peaches, prunes, grapes, apricots and even almonds have been grown in this valley, one section of which is known as the "Lewiston Orchards," where over six thousand acres have been planted
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to fruit trees within recent years. Large shipments are made every year to points as far east as Chicago, and canneries handle a large part of the product.
Another pioneer fruit grower was Thomas Davis, who in 1864 planted near Idaho City an orchard of 7,000 trees, which he had shipped to him at a cost of $1.25 each. This was the first orchard in Southern Idaho and at the time the trees were set out it was the largest orchard in the territory. Mr. Davis sold some of the early crops of apples from this orchard as high as 25 cents per pound. Other orchards were planted in the neighborhood, but many of the young trees were destroyed by grasshoppers. To save his orchard, so says a legend of the olden days, Mr. Davis employed a number of men to shake the trees from about 4 o'clock in the afternoon until sunset. By this device the insects were shaken to the ground and forced to eat the vegetation they found there instead of feasting on the apple trees, and in this way the orchard was saved from their ravages. Finding fruit-growing a profitable business, Mr. Davis increased his orchard until he had a large tract of land planted to apples, pears and prunes.
THE FIRST NURSERY
Between the years 1864 and 1870 a number of orchards were started in the vicinity of Boise. The trees for the earliest of these orchards were brought long distances in freight wagons at great expense. About the time Boise was incorporated, Gen. LaFayette Cartee came from Oregon and settled in Idaho's capital. He was a civil engineer by profession, but was deeply interested in horticulture. Seeing the difficulties the settlers had to contend with in starting their orchards, and recognizing the possibilities of the Boise Valley as a fruit- growing region, he decided to establish a nursery for the propagation of large and small fruits, later adding shade trees and ornamental shrubbery. He also introduced several varieties of European grapes. For a number of years he supplied the farmers of the Boise Valley with fruit trees for their orchards, grapevines for vineyards, and the citizens of Boise with shade trees, shrubs and flowers for their lawns. He then disposed of his property to parties who platted the grounds into lots as an addition to the city.
John Krall, a native of Germany, came to Boise in 1864 and opened a bakery, which he continued to operate until his place of business was destroyed by fire in 1870. He then bought 400 acres of Government land near the city and set out eighty acres in fruit trees, becoming in a few years one of Idaho's successful fruit growers.
IN SOUTHERN IDAHO
In the late 'zos I. B. Perrine settled in a sheltered canyon on the north side of the Snake River about four miles below the Shoshone Falls, where he planted an orchard. The water of Blue Lakes was used for irrigating the ranch and the place became widely known as the "Blue Lakes Orchards." Mr. Perrine's first market for his fruits was in the Wood River mining districts, nearly one hundred miles distant. After the completion of the Oregon Short Line the nearest station and shipping point was at Shoshone, about thirty miles away. Notwithstanding the long haul necessary to market his fruits, Mr. Perrine enlarged his orchard year by year until he had a considerable portion of his ranch planted to fruit
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FOUNTAIN CITY PARK, LEWISTON
LEWISTON ORCHARDS SCHOOL
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trees. He was one of the first exhibitors of Idaho fruit at great expositions, taking prizes at Omaha in 1898; Paris in 1900; Buffalo in 1901; St. Louis in 1904, and Portland in 1905.
Some years after the success of the Blue Lakes Orchards was fully estab- lished, M. S. McFall, of Shoshone, came to the conclusion that the bench lands of the Snake River Valley could be profitably utilized for horticultural purposes. He therefore determined to prove his theory and planted a large orchard of apple trees as an experiment. His orchard was the first on any of the high table lands in Southern Idaho, where now there are thousands of acres of orchards. The success of the horticulturalists on these table lands led others to try fruit raising at even a higher altitude. About ten miles east of St. Anthony the Sunnyside Orchard Company set out about fifty acres of apple and pear frees at an altitude of 4,900 feet, and while the trees did not grow as rapidly as those at lower elevations, they were free from insect pests, which allowed the fruit to grow to a good average size, without blemish and of excellent flavor. One of the promoters of the Sunnyside Orchard Company was John D. C. Kruger, the well known banker of St. Anthony, who was for some time a member of the state horticultural board.
No extensive orchards were planted in Southern Idaho, however, until several years after the completion of the railroad through that section of the state. The early orchards supplied the local demand, but in the early 'gos, encouraged by the record Idaho apples had made wherever they had been introduced, the farmers began planting large orchards for commercial purposes. The Chicago Tribune of October 8, 1897, in its market report, said :
"A consignment of seven or eight cars of fruit from Idaho attracted con- siderable attention on South Water Street yesterday, being the largest lot to arrive from that section recently. Apples and plums constituted the bulk of the shipment. Varieties of the former were Pippins, Jonathans and Bellflowers. These came in 50-pound boxes and are by far the finest looking fruit on the street. A peculiarity of the Idaho apples is that they are absolutely without blemish, such as gnarls or worms. The eyes of the receiving interests are being opened to the fact that if Idaho continues to do as well as it is now doing the state will be a formidable rival to California as a raiser and shipper of high- grade fruits. While the Idaho season is a little later than that of California, being farther north, anything that will grow in California may be raised in Idaho. Freight to the Chicago market is less than from California, and the time en route is nearly two days quicker."
That was written more than twenty years ago. Most of the fruit in the shipment mentioned in the Tribune came from the valleys of the Snake, Boise and Payette rivers. Since that time the industry has multiplied until hundreds of carloads of Idaho fruit have found their way into the markets of Chicago and other cities of the country.
IN NORTHERN IDAHO
As already stated, the first orchard in Idaho was planted in 1863 near Lewiston by Wesley Mulkey. Other settlers followed Mr. Mulkey's example and within a few years several small orchards had been planted along the Snake and Clearwater rivers. The progress of the fruit industry in the northern part
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of the state has been very similar to that in the Boise and Snake valleys, the higher altitudes being shunned at first and later utilized for commercial orchards on an extensive scale.
One of the pioneer fruit growers in this section of the state was Lee R. Carlton, a native of Ohio, who settled on 160 acres of Government land near the present town of Kendrick, Latah County, in 1881. Mr. Carlton was at that time about thirty-three years of age and with the enthusiasm of youth he started an orchard on a large scale for that day, setting out sixty acres of apple trees. six acres of prunes, six acres of Bartlett pears, three acres of cherries, and four or five acres of small fruits. The Town of Kendrick had not then been started, the country was only sparsely settled, and some of Mr. Carlton's few neighbors were inclined to scoff at the idea of such a large orchard so far from market. But by the time the trees were old enough to bear well the Northern Pacific Railroad came and the "Maple Crest Fruit Farm," as Mr. Carlton called his place. began to yield good returns upon the investment. Mr. Carlton was one of the organizers of the Idaho Horticultural Society and was its vice president and inspector of fruit during a large part of the time it was in existence.
The "Lewiston Orchards," referred to in the early part of this chapter, were established by a company which purchased some ten thousand acres of land on the plateau adjoining the city, brought water from Craig's Mountain, twenty miles away, for irrigating purposes, then divided the land into small tracts of five and ten acres, which were sold to fruit growers. These tracts are served by gravity water, delivered by means of an underground piping system, perhaps the most perfect method of irrigation known. Fruit lands in this section of the state now range in value from $150 to $1,000 per acre, owing to location and the character of the improvements. Along the Snake River, both above and below Lewiston, are numerous fruit farms, peaches and cherries thriving especially well in this locality.
Through projects similar to the Lewiston Orchards, fruit culture has been introduced in the northern counties, with the result that several extensive orch- ards have been established and cared for by companies organized for the purpose. On the plateau known as "Council Mesa," in the forks of the Weiser River a few miles south of Council, Adams County, about ten thousand acres have re- cently been planted to apples, pears and peaches by a company of eastern capital- ists, some of whom are individual owners of tracts included in the enterprise. For several years before this project was launched, this section of the state had possessed a reputation for the quality of its fruit, particularly apples, peaches and pears, which had been exhibited and awarded prizes at numerous horticul- tural shows and fairs in various parts of the country. There are also some cor- poration orchards in the northern part of Canyon County, near Parma, north of the Boise River and in the vicinity of Roswell on the south side.
HOW FRUIT GROWING PAYS
To the man who understands the business, orchards in Idaho will yield bet- ter returns, on a fair capitalization, than almost any other crop. Numerous in- stances are on record where orchards brought their owners a thousand dollars or more per acre for a single crop of fruit. The Wilson orchard of seventy acres, near Nampa, produced $50,000 worth of apples in 1910. The same year
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B. F. Tussing, of Fruitland, sold $11,756 worth of apples from an orchard of eight acres. In 1912 R. H. Woods, whose orchard is five miles from Payette, picked 1,600 boxes of apples per acre, the fruit selling for an average price of about one dollar per box. Near Hagerman, Gooding County, one apple tree produced fifty-three boxes in 1912. H. D. Coble, of Weiser, received as aver- age net returns per acre from his orchard of twenty acres for the three years 1910 to 1912, inclusive, $668 for apples and $642.50 for prunes. Examples of this character might be multiplied indefinitely, but enough has been said to show that horticulture can be made a profitable occupation in Idaho, when conducted with patience and intelligence. On the other hand, there have been failures in cases where persons without practical experience have planted orchards and then failed to give the trees proper care.
PRUNE CULTURE
Among those who engaged in prune culture at a comparatively early date was L. Smitchger, who came from the horticultural districts of Germany, where he had learned the business of fruit growing in all its details, and purchased twenty acres of land about seven miles west of Boise. That was in 1889 or 1890. Mr. Smitchger planted about half of his land to prunes, chiefly those of the Italian variety, and to support himself and family while the trees were growing, he engaged in dairying and poultry raising. Twenty years after start- ing his prune orchard, he shipped from less than the original ten acres eight carloads of prunes, which brought him net returns of over three thousand dol- lars-more than some farmers in the vicinity received from the products of 160 acres. A recent writer on this subject says :
"Idaho prunes are the finest in the world-bar none. All the Snake River Valley, under an elevation of 4,000 feet, produces a prune that can be shipped fresh, better than any other known. Some fabulous profits have been made in the prune business in Idaho. The market takes all the product as fast as it can be offered; there is apparently a demand for all that Idaho could produce if all her orchards were of prunes instead of apples. The prune is practically frost- proof, fool-proof, insect-proof ; it is the one great Idaho fruit product on which this state has a real monopoly."
It is difficult to suggest which is the fruit growing section par excellence in Idaho. In every valley of the state less than five thousand feet in altitude excel- lent fruit is raised. In the vicinity of Lewiston in Nez Perce County, the cherries raised equal in quality and quantity that variety of fruit in any part of the world, while the grapes, pears and peaches deserve the same high praise. In Adams County the great Mesa Orchard, with 1,600 acres of trees, shows that the foothills as well as the valleys are fitted for fruit culture. At Payette, New Plymouth and other points in Payette County, fruit raising and melon growing comprise one of the really important occupations and the orchards of Gem County, near Emmett, are equally important. A great part of the revenue of many of the land owners comes from peaches and berries. Every part of the Boise Valley is particularly well adapted to raising apples and the vicinities of Twin Falls, Jerome and Gooding promise equally well in the future. The fruit, berry and melon industry of the state has a bright future in many sections, and
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has been developed sufficiently to ascertain that some varieties, notably prunes and cantaloupes, are not excelled in the most favored sections of the world.
SMALL FRUITS
Small fruits, such as strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, loganberries, gooseberries, currants, etc., do well in all parts of the state. Some of the finest raspberries ever seen are grown in the high mountain valleys, like those of Bear Lake County, at an altitude of 6,000 feet. Berry crops have never failed in Idaho, where proper care has been given to the plants, and the future of the small fruits is full of possibilities. On the Warden fruit farm, near Emmett, a half acre of strawberries produced 700 crates of berries in 1912, which were sold at an average price of $1.10 per crate, or at the rate of $1,440 per acre. Jensen brothers, whose farm is also near Emmett, sold $1,100 worth of dewberries from one acre in 1910.
MARKETING THE CROP
The greater part of the apple crop of the United States is produced in the Mississippi Valley and the states east of the Appalachian Mountains, New York being the greatest apple producing state in the Union. The same sections of the country, also furnish the principal markets for the fruit raised in the states of the Northwest, and the cost of transportation of the northwestern fruit to the market centers frequently equals the market price of eastern fruits at or near the places where they are grown. This condition of affairs has had the effect of making the western fruit grower turn his attention to the production of a high grade of fruit that will pay the transportation charges and still yield a profit when brought into competition with the eastern product.
This has not been a difficult task, for in the early years of the fruit industry in Idaho and the adjoining states there was a friendly rivalry among several districts as to which could produce the highest quality of fruit. This rivalry had the effect of causing horticulturalists to study and adopt the most scientific methods of caring for their orchards. During those early years the question of markets gave the fruit growers small concern. The limited quantity of fruit produced found ready sale in the local or near-by markets, and the quality was such that the demand exceeded the supply. But as the number of orchards in- creased in the districts that had been rivals in the production of fine fruit the same districts became active competitors in the markets to such an extent that the horticultural industry was threatened with destruction.
To offset this condition of affairs the large fruit growing sections of Oregon, Washington and Idaho combined their interests into a system of cooperative marketing, the managers of which study the markets and sell the fruit where the demand is greatest and the best prices can be obtained, instead of the old method of glutting one market when a better demand existed elsewhere. Scientific pro- duction has already established the reputation of the fruits of the Northwest, and scientific marketing by the cooperative method insures the fruit grower a fair price for the product of his orchard so long as the means of transportation and dis- tribution permit the placing of that product within reach of the people who de- mand fruit as a part of their daily bill of fare.
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STATE ENCOURAGEMENT
At a comparatively early date the fruit growers of Idaho saw the necessity of controlling the insect pests that were destructive of so many orchards, or at least detrimental to the successful prosecution of the horticultural industry. In 1891 the Legislature passed an act providing for the appointment of a horticul- tural inspector in each county, whose duty it was to inspect orchards for insect pests and to give information to fruit growers concerning the care and propaga- tion of trees, vines, etc. This law proved to be unsatisfactory, for the reason that in some counties the inspector would discharge his duty conscientiously and intelligently, while in the adjoining counties inspection was neglected.
In order to establish a more uniform system, the Legislature of 1895 pro- vided for the appointment of a state horticultural inspector, and in 1897, this law was superseded by one creating the State Board of Horticultural Inspection. Under this law all nursery stock of every kind, whether grown within the state or outside of it, is inspected before shipment, and no worm-eaten or defective fruit can be offered for sale, except for use at the by-product factories. As frequently happens in the case of such legislation, many orchard owners, at the time the law was passed, regarded it as an interference with their individual rights and considered the inspection of their orchards and eradication of pests as an unnecessary burden imposed on them. But as time went on and the bene- fits of the inspection became manifest, opposition to the law disappeared.
The law gave the state board the power to divide the state into as many dis- tricts as deemed necessary and to appoint as many district and local inspectors as might be needed to perform the work. Ample appropriations have been made by each succeeding Legislature and the result is the orchards of Idaho are as free from insect pests and other unhealthy conditions as those of any state in the nation. Wherever such conditions are found by the inspectors, they are authorized to take such steps as will compel the owner of the orchard imme- diately to eradicate them, under the exaction of severe penalties in case of fail- ure to comply. The theory of the law is that the interests of all are paramount to the interests of any individual, and under the constant supervision that has been exercised by the board and its inspectors a clean condition of orchard growth has been effected in the state.
At the close of the year 1918 the State Board of Horticultural Inspection was composed of E. F. Stephens, of Nampa, president; Charles P. Hartley, of Em- mett; Louis A. Blackman, of Lewiston; Daniel L. Ingard, of Fruitland; and Oscar G. Zuck, of Kimberly, with Guy Graham as secretary and inspector. The state at that time was divided into sixteen districts, to wit: I. Boundary, Bon- ner, Kootenai, Benewah and Shoshone counties; 2, Latah County ; 3, Nez Perce County ; 4, Clearwater, Lewis and Idaho counties; 5, Adams and Washington counties ; 6, Payette County ; 7, Canyon County ; 8, Ada, Boise, Elmore and Owyhee counties ; 9, Twin Falls, Minidoka, Lincoln, Gooding, Camas, Blaine and Custer counties; 10, Cassia County ; 11, Oneida County ; 12, Bear Lake County ; 13, Bannock, Bonneville, Bingham, Butte, Teton, Madison, Jefferson and Fre- mont counties ; 14, Lemhi County; 15, Gem and Valley counties; 16, Franklin County.
The reader will notice that several of these districts consist of but a single Vol. I-31
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county, while the thirteenth, the largest district in the state, is composed of eight counties. This arrangement shows at a glance the important fruit growing sec- tions of Idaho, the single county districts representing the leading horticultural areas. According to a statement recenty issued by the Union Pacific Railroad Company, Idaho has about one hundred and forty thousand acres of orchard.
CHAPTER XXV MINING AND MANUFACTURING
GOLD PRODUCTION IN THE EARLY DAYS-LODE MINING-FIRST LEDGES-ROMANTIC NAMES-EARLY QUARTZ MILLS-THE POORMAN MINE-UNITED STATES ASSAY OFFICE-THE WOOD RIVER DISTRICT-COEUR D'ALENE DISTRICT-MINING IN- SPECTORS-MINERAL PRODUCTION IN 1917-OTHER MINERALS-ANTIMONY --- ASBESTOS-COAL-COBALT-IRON-MANGANESE-MICA-PHOSPHORUS-PUMICE STONE-QUICKSILVER-TUNGSTEN, ETC .- MANUFACTURING-WATER POWER.
In an earlier chapter of this history is given an account of the discovery of gold in Idaho and the development of the placer mines at Oro Fino, Elk City, Florence, in the Boise Basin, in Owyhee County, and other places.
Considerable reference is also made in the chapters on county history to the development of the mining interests in various localities. The question is often asked as to the amount of gold taken out in the early days of placer mining, but this is a question that can never be answered, as there are no available data upon which definite conclusions could be based. Banks were unknown in those days; even afte. stages commenced running the heavy charges of the express com- panies precluded most of the producers from sending out their "dust" in that way, and as large numbers of the claim owners wintered on the coast, they usually took the chances of carrying out their own gold, adopting all kinds of methods to prevent its discovery if stopped by highwaymen. Much of the gold was run into bars and properly stamped with the name of a reliable assayer and the value of the bar. These were used in lieu of money. The records of the San Francisco mint make a partial showing, but only a comparatively small amount reached that point until years after it was mined, if at all, and the Philadelphia and New Orleans United States mints received their full share. The amount of gold taken out of the Basin was almost fabulous; one estimate made in 1864 was that 15,000 men were engaged in placer mining and that they averaged $40 a day output and as mining was carried on seven days in the week, this estimate, count- ing six months as the averaging mining season, would make considerably over one hundred millions of Boise Basin gold taken out that year. It is generally agreed by those best acquainted with the subject that $300,000,000 in gold dust was mined in Boise Basin alone from the discovery in 1862 until the close of the year 1880, at which time bar, creek and gulch mining had practically ceased.
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LODE MINING
It was evident to the experienced miners who had faced similar conditions in California, very soon after the shallow placers of the Basin had been opened, that the greater portion of the gold producing area would soon be worked out and that permanent mining would depend upon finding producing quartz veins. It required little besides hard work to open the average placer claim :- To open a quartz claim, however, and provide methods for reducing the ores made con- siderable capital necessary. Still, many valuable lode claims were found by the prospectors for placer claims in the very early days of mining in Idaho and soon produced considerable amounts of gold from easily opened pockets of ore.
Most famous of this kind of discovery in the early days was the Ida Elmore ledge, near Rocky Bar, which gave its name afterward to Elmore County. Worked in arrastra, a primitive method of working gold ores without stamps, the rich top streak in this lode for several seasons averaged $270 a ton. Several other promising gold ledges were located in that section in the fall of 1863 and with the placer claims found, made Rocky Bar a prosperous camp for many years.
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